Thursday, January 06, 2011

YHWH Divine Identity 2 Enoch - Examining the Evidence

2 Enoch 47

... For there is no other besides the LORD, neither in heaven, nor on the earth, nor in the deepest places, nor in the one foundation.
The LORD is the one who laid the foundations upon the unknown things, and he is the one who spread out the heavens above the visible and the invisible things. And the earth he solidified above the waters, and the waters he based upon the unfixed things; and he (alone) created the uncountable creatures. |And| who is it who has counted the dust of the earth or the sand of the sea of the drops of rain of the dew 〈of the clouds〉 or the blowing of the wind? Who is it who has plaited the land and the sea together with indissoluble bonds, and cut the stars out of fire, and decorated the sky and put in the midst of them…

F. I. Andersen [1]

2 Enoch 66

... If you look upon the sky, behold, the LORD is there; for the LORD created the sky. If you look upon the earth, then the LORD is there; for the LORD founded the earth, and placed upon it all his creatures. If you meditate upon the depths of the ocean and on all that is beneath the earth, then the LORD is there. Because the LORD created all things.
Do not bow down to anything created by man, nor to anything created by God, so committing apostasy against the LORD of all creation. ...

F. I. Andersen [1]

Richard Bauckham cites 2 Enoch 47 & 66 as evidence that YHWH in Second Temple Judaism was identified as the one and only creator of all things which are outside the divine identity. Our quote from 2 Enoch 47 begins with "... For there is no other besides the LORD ... The LORD is the one ... he is the one ... and he (alone) ...", language which could be used to support Bauckham's thesis.

In 2 Enoch 47 that F. I. Andersen puts alonein parentheses "and he (alone) created the uncountable creatures" which I would understand as inference. In other words, alonedoes not represent a word found in the manuscript nor is it a restoration where the text is broken. What sort of inference is involved here is difficult to access without having translation notes. It would appear the supplied |And| in the next in line is a different sort of translation procedure. Someone with hard copy of Charlesworth[1] could probably answer this.

It 2 Enoch 66 the depths and the sea are mentioned but there is no explicit statement that YHWH created the ocean. Look at the structure of these three statements about the sky, the earth and the ocean.

2 Enoch 66

... If you look upon the sky, behold,
the LORD is there;
for the LORD created the sky.

If you look upon the earth,
then the LORD is there;
for the LORD founded the earth,
and placed upon it all his creatures.

If you meditate upon the depths of the ocean
and on all that is beneath the earth,
then the LORD is there.
Because the LORD created all things.

What is lacking is a specific statement that the LORD created the "ocean". We have "the LORD created the sky" and "the LORD founded the earth" and we would expect to read "the LORD created the ocean" but we don't see it.

In 2 Enoch 47 where we have "Who is it who has plaited the land and the sea together with indissoluble bonds" but no explicit mention of the creation of the sea. I would not read "waters" in "the earth he solidified above the waters" as coreferential with the sea or the ocean. I am not making any sort of case here for the sea or the ocean as eternal or uncreated. But in light of ANE cosmologies which portray the hero god as a conqueror of chaos who is represented as the sea or the ocean, it is always worthwhile to pay close attention to comments about the sea or the ocean.